The Part Inside
by cicimason13
Summary: Klaus takes preventative measures to protect Cami from his enemies. Post Season 2 finale.
1. Chapter 1: There are no winners

Klaus walks into Rousseau's after weeks of passing by, but not entering. He spots Camille immediately, beautiful in a white cotton dress. Their eyes meet as he strides purposely up to the bar.

"Hey, stranger," she says, wiping the counter. "Haven't seen you around lately. Parental duties call?"

He nods, sitting on a stool. "Yes, as it turns out, Freya has no idea how to care for a child."

"Neither do you, I'm sure," Cami says, raising a brow and pouring him some bourbon. "Don't you wish Hope's mother were around?"

Klaus frowns. "Hello to you too, Camille."

She pours a glass for herself. "Haley, yes, I think that's her name."

"It's a complicated matter-"

"Yes, quite- one that you created-".

"Which I'm reminded of by my brother everyday. Elijah is home, by the way."

Cami takes a sip. "I know."

"Oh yes," Klaus smirks, "I forgot you two are friends."

"Klaus..."

"One of several of your acquaintances that are plotting my demise. Let's see, there is my brother... Marcel... Davina- am I forgetting someone? Josh, the wolves... All want me dead..."

Cami shakes he head. "And whose fault is that?!"

His eyes turned dark. "I did what I had to for my daughter!"

"Who needs her mother, Klaus!"

"I'm working on it!" he spouts.

Cami pointedly stares at him, silently demanding more.

Klaus lowers his voice. "As it turns out, undoing a curse is infinitely harder than setting one."

Her eyes soften.

"But I am working on it," Klaus murmurs. "I promise. Rebekah is looking into it, as well, while she researches resurrecting Kol. "

Cami looks down at her drink. "You can't be the only one that gets everything you want."

"Camille, I know that."

"And stop being so paranoid. You won."

She waits for Klaus to say something more, but he doesn't. They stare at each other for a long moment.

"Why are you here?" she asks finally.

Klaus reaches into his coat and pulls a golden locket out. "Rebekah procured this for you on my behalf." He places it on the counter.

Cami immediately runs her finger down the delicate chain and along its flowery etchings. It's beautiful.

"Klaus," she murmurs. "I don't know what to say."

He reaches over to take it from her. "It binds you to me- turn around."

Cami feels breathless. She turns around as Klaus undoes the clasp and reaches over the counter to put it on her. "Klaus, I- why-".

"So I can find you-" His touch is delicate to her skin as the side of his hand slides her hair off her neck.

"Oh- I -" she sputtered confusedly. Her heart aches.

Klaus clasps it on. "In an emergency, you see?"

Cami raises her brows. It was not a romantic gift, she realized. "But why-"

"My enemies are all local now," he explains as she turns around to face him, her hands still on the locket. "They know what you m- they know we are friends. If they were to use you against me..."

"Klaus-"

"Davina, Marcel- even my brother- I know you trust them, but if they get desperate... What I'm saying is I need to be able to find you if need be."

"No," she insists. "The wouldn't do that. Not everyone is like you."

Klaus recoils and Cami immediately regrets it.

"Klaus, I didn't mean that."

"No, love, I'm afraid they are more like me than you realize," he murmurs. Cami says nothing and Klaus sighs and gets up. "Listen, if I can find you, then I can you keep you safe. I have no intention of invading your life. See your friends. See whomever you like. I won't be at every corner. Will you wear it? Please."

Cami wants to know more. How does it work? What does it mean underneath all his reasons. But she doesn't ask.

She only stares at him. "I will," she says softly.

Klaus nods. "I'll leave you to your work then." He strides away, but turns back at the door. "Camille?" he asks.

"Hmmm?" she manages, devoid of words.

"You are wrong on two accounts," he says matter-of-factly. "I didn't win... and I didn't get everything I wanted."

With that, Klaus leaves Rousseau's and Cami is left still holding the locket. It's welded shut.

She slowly turns it around and then she sees it. Engraved in the back.

A tiny, cursive "K".


	2. Chapter 2: Just Dinner?

Klaus walks into Hope's room as Freya sways her gentlly in her arms as she looks out the window. She is humming softly, but stops when she senses her brother behind her. "Rain is coming," she calls behind her.

"In the evening, perhaps," he says, sliding beside her. Klaus sees that Hope is awake. "Hello, my little one." He extends his fingers out and his daughter grasps them with her tiny hand.

Freya smiles. "She's only now woke."

Hope coos and she reaches out with her free hand to try and grab a round pendant hanging of a leather strap around his neck. Klaus pulls it from her reach and tucks it underneath his shirt. "There, now, my darling, that's not a toy."

Freya smiles knowingly. "Anything new, her eyes go right toward it."

Klaus says nothing, but instead goes over to her crib to fish Hope's rattle out. He takes her from Freya's arms and walks over to sit with his daughter in a reclining chair. He waves the silver object in front of her and she takes it excitedly.

"How was you lunch in the Quarter?" Freya asks, coming to sit idly across from them.

"It wasn't a lunch," Klaus says, shrugging. "It was- an errand I had to run."

Freya raises her brows hopefully. "Rebekah says the food is wonderful here in New Orleans."

Klaus doesn't look up from Hope. "Then by all means, sister, go and enjoy."

"I-" Freya sighs embarrassingly. "I don't have anyone to go with. I don't really know anyone here."

"Freya!" he says exasperated. "You're not a prisoner here! Meet people!"

"Klaus-"

"- but stay away from the witches!"

Freya leaned toward him, hopeful. "Maybe we all can go... as a family..."

He rolled his eyes. "You know all too well that our brother is in no mood for family dinner, of all things."

"Maybe Cami can come...?"

"What?!" Klaus exclaimed. "No! Absolutely not!"

"Why?! I'd like to properly meet her. Rebekah says she's been good to you and to Hope..."

"Sister..."

"Brother, please. I've been asleep for a hundred years, remember? Contrary to the confidence I feign, I'm not good with people. And I'd like to meet the right ones..." Freya pleads.

Klaus shakes his head. "She needs to have her own life... away from us... from me."

"Only dinner," Freya promises. "Call her..."

"I..." Klaus hesitates, his own wants fighting what his head tells him is right.

"Brother, call her."

He sighs and reaches into his pocket to pull out his phone.

"For tonight!" Freya says excitedly getting up. "Someplace with music! And dancing!" She heads towards the door. "I'm going to check Rebekah's closet!"

Klaus watches her go, knowing it would be good for his new-found sister to experience some sort of normalcy. She is owed that. He regards the phone and hesitates.

Hope reaches towards his neck again, her little fingers pulling the small silver pendant out from beneath his shirt. It now lies twisted, hanging over the collar of his coat, the shimmery "C" along the back catching the light.


	3. Chapter 3: There will be music

Cami is sitting down on the couch with her laptop when the phone rings.

She looks down at the glowy screen. _Klaus_. Her breath catches for a second.

"Hello?" she says, trying to sound casual. Nothing. "Hello? Klaus?"

"Hi..." he says rather quietly. "It's me."

Cami chuckles softly. "I know." Silence. "Um, what's up?"

Klaus clears his throat. "Nothing. I'm sorry to disturb you. What- uh- what are you doing?"

Cami relaxes against the couch. She twists the locket he gave her earlier around her finger slowly. She had feared he wouldn't come around for at least a few days after coming to see her earlier at Rousseau's- as was his m.o. when things got weird- which was always- so she is glad he's calling.

"Just studying. What are you up to?"

She hears Hope cooing in the background. "I'm taking my sister and Hope out into the Quarter for dinner..."

Cami waits for him to say something more, but he doesn't.

"Oh... that's nice" is all she comes up with.

If Cami could see Klaus, she'd see him run his hand through his hair.

"Freya has been shuttered in the house for too long," he continues. "And I need her to start getting acclimated with being around people."

"I could see why that would be good," Cami says.

"She feels awkward being out," Klaus explains. "I'd like her to start having some sort of a normal routine."

Cami laughs lightly. "Normal? Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think anything your family does is normal."

"True," he says with a chuckle, more at ease for a moment. "But nonetheless she has been asleep for 100 years. And I knew I need to know that she's okay around others, including my daughter. That's where I'm hoping you come in..."

Cami furrows her brow. "So you want me to come make sure she's normal?" she asks.

Klaus realizes how this sounds. "No," he answers quickly. "I want you to accompany me and my family to dinner."

Cami smiles.

"Maybe, in addition, you can talk to her a little..." Klaus adds. "Just... There will be music. Would you like that? I mean, will you come?"

Cami didn't let herself think.

"Yes," she answers. "Of course, I'll be there."

"You don't have to come anywhere," Klaus says. "We'll pick you up. Around eight?"

"Mmm-hmm." She gets up to walk to her room. "What should I wear? I mean, is it like dressy sort of thing?"

"The dress you were wearing today..." he replies, without thinking. "I liked that."

Cami blushes. "Oh..."

Klaus coughs. "I mean... I think that would be suitable."

Cami looks down at her tank top and boxers shorts. "Well lucky for you, I'm still wearing it," she teases, lying but happy. She's trying to sound casual about the whole thing.

"Well, there you are," he says. "I... I'll pick you up in about an hour."

"Okay..." Cami says. "Bye."

Klaus smiles. "Goodbye. I'll see you soon."

They both hang up.

Cami goes into her closet. The sleeveless white dress was hanging where she left it a little while ago.

"There you are," she says with a grin.

In Hope's room, Klaus lays his daughter in her crib. He looks out the window into the Quarter, a feeling of contentment washing so over him that he doesn't hear the footsteps behind him.


	4. Chapter 4: What those tied to you know

"Are we playing family now?"

Klaus turns around in the hallway and meets his brother's glare.

"Is that what we do now?" he asks Elijah. "Lurk around, listening to private conversations?"

"You are daft, brother. Dinner? Music? Playing house with Camille, our sister and Hope? As if you hadn't just destroyed our family?"

Klaus says nothing, tired of beginning the same talk over and over.

"What of Haley?" Elijah continues. "What of the scorch marks on your floor downstairs?"

"What of them?" Klaus replies nonchalantly. He could tell him about the progress in reversing the curse. But why give Elijah hope amidst his despondent monologues. So he adds, "Don't forget, brother, that they are there because of you too. It was you who put me down! It was you who backed me into the corner! You left me no choice."

The back-and-forth between them, it would never end.

"You had a choice!" Elijah growls. "Gia, you're so-called collateral damage, had blood running through her veins. She did not ask for this! Just like Camille didn't ask to be almost drained!"

This set Klaus off. "Do not bring her into your tirade! Don't use her and Gia as an excuse for not having Haley to moon over in this house anymore!"

"You almost killed her!" Elijah shouts, knowing where to press. "Was she supposed to be collateral damage too? _Your_ Camille? She only healed because of me, you know?!"

Klaus boils. "You leave her out of this!"

"It was _my_ blood running through her veins that day," Elijah retorts, getting a certain satisfaction from getting his brother's agitated reaction.

"And it was the last time any part of you will be near her ever again," Klaus shouts. "Do you hear me?!"

"With all the chaos you created that day..." Elijah reminds him. "She could have been turned that day!" Klaus' features exploded in a rage. "Or is that you wanted?!"

"She will NEVER be turned!" Klaus shouts. "Am I clear? Her life will not be ruined with what we are!"

Elijah smirks- when Klaus' self-loathing emerges, he knows he has him.

"Well, you're a fool then. And she's an even bigger fool for continuing to let you into her life."

Klaus' eyes turn glassy and the hollows of his cheeks pulsate.

"You're death, Niklaus," Elijah says ruefully. "And you won't stop until everyone around you is buried in the ground. You will be the death of us all..."

"Get out of my house!" Klaus rages.

"As if I would leave you with Hope and Freya!"

"Get out!"

"Stop it, the both of you!" Freya shouts, appearing in the hallway wearing a purple dress. "Is this the family I searched for all these years?"

"We are no family," Elijah says pointedly. "Not anymore."

Freya looks from brother to brother. "It's just dinner... Klaus, tell him."

"What hurts more, Elijah?" he asks his brother. "That a girl who loved you died knowing you didn't love her back? Or that the one you do love will never choose you, even if you manage to break the curse?"

Elijah's face grows stoic and Klaus finds pleasure in that.

"She is in love with, Jackson. Did you know that, brother? She loves her husband and she won't choose you."

"Klaus..." Freya murmurs.

Elijah sighs, his expression remaining hard with only his eyes betraying him. "Sister, leave it..."

"Have I hit a nerve?" Klaus asks.

"I only wish Haley happiness," Elijah replies, steady. "Which is a feeling you'll never truly experience. Because you're selfish. And any good feeling you ever capture will be poisoned because it will be achieved with your lies and your betrayals and the blood of those of us that are unfortunate enough to be tied to you. I've known you all your miserable life, so I've learned this lesson all too well. Camille has not. And she would be served well if she were warned."

With that, Elijah turns away and heads down the stairs. "But, by all means..." he says over his shoulder. "... enjoy your dinner."


	5. Chapter 5: He will sketch tonight

A couple weeks after meeting Cami, Klaus began to sketch her. Just charcoal and paper. Nothing fancy. And only parts of her. Never a whole image.

He didn't attempt to paint her. Or hadn't allowed himself to do so, rather. Klaus just sketched. Quickly and at odd times of the day and night when his mind and his breath raced. He did this for over a year until he made himself stop. Every now and then, however, he would look through the drawings.

Her eyes.

Then her smile.

That soft curve where her neck met the side of one of her shoulders. He loved that part.

The small of her back in a pretty dress.

Like the one she was wearing now. Klaus stares at her from behind as she looks for her keys.

"Sorry," she says with a laugh. "I usually leave them on the coffee table."

"It's quite alright," Klaus assures her. His voice sounds strained.

Cami runs her hands in between the cushions of her coach. "Ah-ha!" she exclaims as she pulls her keys out and waves them in the air in victory.

She looks to him, expecting some quip for making him wait ten minutes. But instead Klaus seems to be looking right through her, his mouth tight, his expression melancholy. He is million miles away. Or a quarter of a mile away. Back at The Abattoir in his conversation with Elijah.

Cami doesn't know this, of course, but she senses something is awry.

"What's wrong?" Cami asks.

His eyes grow wide and Klaus seems to snap back to the present. "Nothing..." he murmurs. "Nothing- sorry. I was just thinking-"

"Thinking what?"

"... thinking we've never had a proper dinner before."

Cami chuckles. "I know! Like with real napkins!"

"We've had drinks..." Klaus says with a small smirk.

She nods. "Many a drink! And lunch!"

Klaus steps towards her. "More like tea and salad in a cafe..."

"Tea and beer! But never dinner..."

"Never dinner..."

He smiles, but just as quickly it disappears.

"Seriously, what's wrong? Did something happen?" She is worried.

"No," Klaus assures her. "It's just... I was wondering if you really..."

"Really what?"

"If you really want to do this?"

She felt a pressing in her chest. What was he asking?

"This? What? Like have dinner?"

"Yes," he replies. "Dinner."

"Klaus, yes, I really do," she assures him. " I want to have dinner... with you."

He smiles.

"... and your strange sister... and your baby..."

Then he laughs.

Cami laughs too. "I really do! Do you want to have dinner with me?"

He can't help himself. "I do."

She takes him by his lapels. "Okay, so let's go. Seriously. I'm tired of only seeing you when the world is going to hell. Let's go out! Let's be one with the tourists!"

Klaus' smile holds this time. "Alright. As you wish. Let's go be."

Cami gives his lapels a tug and smiles wide. "Okay, let me find my purse!"

Klaus shakes his head, but he is content.

He lets that feeling hold. Elijah... Haley... Marcel... They are all still in his head, but he pushes then to the side. For the evening. And ever-so-slightly. He is allowing himself this.

As he and Cami step out of her apartment and Freya, pushing Hope along in a stroller, eagerly approaches them, Klaus is amazed at how warmly Cami reacts to his sister when he introduces them.

"Freya, hi! It's nice to meet you. Your brother is finally letting us meet!"

"Hi, Cami. Yes, I know! We should toast to that!"

"Do you like wine?"

"Yes, of course."

Cami nudges Klaus' shoulder. "A woman after our own heart! I love your dress, Freya."

"Thank you! It's actually my sister's."

"Don't spill red on it," Cami quips. "I hear Rebekah has killed others for less!"

They all laugh and they are all at ease as they walk to the restaurant a couple of blocks away.

Freya is thinking that she likes Camille. And she's glad she secretly came to Rebekah's aid when her sister asked for help in procuring a binding pendant for their brother.

Cami feels likewise. Freya seems nice and yearning for a connection. The same need she saw in Klaus almost two years ago. They come to an intersection and she feels his arm behind her as he guides them along. Her breath catches.

And Klaus... he looks down at his hand, gently grazing the small of her back in a pretty dress... and he's thinking he will sketch tonight.

He doesn't realize- none of them do- that they are being watched from across the street.

They don't see eyes narrowing in anger and footsteps trailing from behind.


End file.
